Trends in areas of public procurement and anti-corruption Kulatý stůl: Osvědčené postupy pro prevenci a odhalování korupčních rizik ve veřejných zakázkách 12 December 2018, Prague Jaroslav Kračún DG GROW Unit G4 innovative and e-procurement
1. Rationale OUTLINE 2. Anti-fraud and anti-corruption measures: assistance and tools available 3. Fraud and corruption prevention in the area of public procurement 4. Other important developments and policy initiatives in the area of anti-fraud 2
European Quality of Government Index Governance Poor governance slows down Cohesion Policy implementation, reduces its impact and hinders economic growth and entrepreneurship 3
CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX 4
Anti-fraud provisions in European Structural and Investment Funds Article 125(4) c) of Regulation 1303/2013 "As regards the financial management and control of the operational programme, the managing authority shall put in place effective and proportionate anti-fraud measures taking into account the risks identified." 5
Assistance and tools available Fraud risk assessment tool Guidance - https://ec.europa.eu/sfc/en/2014/anti-fraud Seminars on anti-fraud measures (2013-2015) ARACHNE - risk scoring tool Stock taking study "Preventing fraud and corruption in ESIF" Trainings on anti-fraud for MS in Brussels, 2019 new! Integrity Pacts pilot project - 17 pilots in 11 MS
Fraud and corruption prevention in area of Public Procurement 7
Measuring performance of Public Procurement Limited competition Too many contracts for single bidders Not always collusion Low value for money? More e-procurement Better information More offers from outside the country Source: 7 th Cohesion Report
Actions supporting administrative capacity building in area of PP Study on PP administrative capacity involving ESIF E-library of public procurement good practices http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/policy/how/improving-investment/publicprocurement/e-library/ Public Procurement Guidance for Practitioners Training for MS experts in Brussels new dates! *2018 edition Cooperation with OECD strategic procurement for ESIF REGIO PEER 2 PEER exchanges Study: Single bidding in EU co-funded projects new! 9
Cohesion policy Post-2020 10
Post 2020 Enabling condition - procurement 1. One of the 4 horizontal enabling conditions Annex III of CPR 2. Condition for submitting payment applications (Article 11 CPR) 3. No more action plans: need to be fulfilled from the beginning 4. Need to be complied with throughout the whole period (MC and ARM follow-up) 11
Enabling condition procurement Overall objectives Verifying and reinforcing the effectiveness of procurement system: quality and intensity of competition (7 th Cohesion Report) Information on bidders, selection rate, prices, Participation of SMEs Effectiveness of the remedy system Recourse to exclusion from procurement rules Transparency Reporting and follow-up 12
Enabling condition procurement Expected outcome Information gathered through this monitoring mechanisms shall be used for: Gathering intelligence on procurement for improving the framework (such as participation of SMEs) Identify deficiencies within contracting authorities (high selection rate, inflating prices, ) tackled through: Guidance and trainings Combatting bid rigging Focussed audits and controls Build higher transparency and confidence in procurement 13 system
Digital Transformation in Public Procurement
The Only Once Principle (Public institutions should avoid to ask companies or citizens for documents or information that is already stored (and treated) by another public institution) ESPD has information on how a supplier needs to qualify ESPD ecertis ecertis has information on what evidence the supplier needs to provide National registers National database contains the actual evidence or information about the supplier.
Digital Transformation in Public Procurement: Blockchain examples in contract management or suppliers registries; AI (Artificial Intelligence) or ML (Machine Learning) examples in automated contract structure or forecasting needs; AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) examples in simulating new environments in public works; Voice Personal Assistants Chatboxes examples in assisting both CAs and EOs during the procurement process. Robots, Drones and Self-Driving Safety Features in Vehicles 3D Printing Cloud services
Data availability Data quality challenges; Increasing digitisation Growing interoperability potential; Higher data availability Possibility to apply new emerging technologies. More knowledge and more automation
Other important developments and policy initiatives 18
Important policy initiatives Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2017 on the fight against fraud to the Union's financial interests by means of criminal law (so-called "PIF Directive") Objective: to deter fraudsters, improve the prosecution and sanctioning of crimes against the EU budget, and facilitate the recovery of misused EU funds PIF directive will be a major part of the law to be applied by the future EPPO 19
European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) 12 October 2017 the regulation establishing the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) was adopted 22 member states have been confirmed in the enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the EPPO. EPPO is envisaged to take up its functions by the end of 2020. The EPPO will be an independent and decentralised prosecution office of the EU, with the competence to investigate, prosecute and bring to judgment crimes against the EU budget, such as fraud, corruption or serious cross-border VAT fraud. 20
Thank you! jaroslav.kracun@ec.europa.eu